truth – Page 4 – Deborah Makarios

June 7, 2014

Equivocation

Why, I ask myself, must theatre tickets cost so much? Professional theatre, that is. I am a big fan of amateur theatre, largely because as a starving artist I can still afford to see it sometimes. And also because an amateur production costs less, and the amateurs are therefore more likely to take a punt on an unknown playwright 🙂

Very occasionally, however, I’ll splash out on tickets for a professional production, which entails travelling at least as far as Wellington, which is about 20km away (12 1/2 miles for the imperialists).
Last weekend, we went to Wellington’s Circa Theatre to see Equivocation by Bill Cain. I loved it.

The central character is William Shakespeare, struggling with the artistic and ethical challenge posed by being commissioned to write a government propaganda-play about the Gunpowder Plot. On the one hand, the story as they’ve given it to him doesn’t hold together. On the other hand, if he reveals the truth (which he gradually ferrets out), hanging is only the start of what they’ll do to him. Really.

Truth matters. Truth can be dangerous, particularly to the teller. Truth can, in fact, be a matter of life or death.

Enter the delicate art of equivocation, or as Father Garnet (another character) calls it, “how to tell the truth in difficult times”. Whatever one may think of the idea of equivocation (do the ends justify the means, or is deception unethical regardless?) there is an interesting echo of Shakespeare’s dilemma in the modern world, where those who expose politically unpalatable truths still go in fear for their very lives. Manning, Snowden…
All right, the US President isn’t going to have them hung, drawn and quartered, but he does actually have the authority to order their extrajudicial execution. I prefer my own head of state: all the pomp and ceremony with none of the whacking.

Ideally, to my mind, a play should balance being entertaining with having something to say. Worst of all are the plays that have something to say but expect you to pay for the privilege of hearing it, without a scrap of entertainment to sweeten the often bitter pill.
Equivocation manages the balance very well. It’s the sort of play I’d like be able to write myself one day. I tend to be better at the entertaining fluff side of it, but if you look carefully there’s a meaning in there somewhere…

So, if you’re going to be in Wellington in the next couple of weeks, check it out. Clever script, talented actors, great production. Worth every cent, even for a starving artist.

June 4, 2014

Quote: Truth

“The Truth must be heard though the lie be a tumult.”
Frank E. Peretti, Prophet

March 8, 2014

The Eccentric Ethic & Æsthetic

My name is Deborah Makarios.

I’ve been blogging for the last 14 months as Sinistra Inksteyne, but eventually (dawn breaks over Marblehead, New Zealand) I realised there was little point in building an online reputation for an alter ego whose name does not appear on any other work. So Sinistra Inksteyne will have to content herself with being a URL from now on.

As Francis Bacon observed, great changes are easier than small ones, so I didn’t stop with the name. This new picture isn’t me, but it might as well be (I’m working on developing the smiley wrinkles):

As I’ve mentioned before, this blog started as a way of keeping me accountable for my procrastination, but it no longer serves that purpose. Because I am now a perfect paragon of proactivity and – ha, no, sorry, couldn’t keep a straight face. But I’m not as bad as I used to be, not by a long shot, and there’s only so much talking about it that can be done before people stop procrastinating and get right on to clubbing you over the head with a thesaurus to make you shut up.

So I thought about what I wanted to do with this blog, and I decided that I just wanted to be myself – that is, to champion the cause of weirdness, oddity and eccentricity. I believe that people are individually created by God, which means that there is no standard-issue to vary from. To put it another way, ‘normal’ is not a Christian concept.
I have a sneaking suspicion that an awful lot of apparent ‘normality’ is due to peer pressure. People feel they have to fit one of a limited selection of moulds or they will be ostracized – and they may be right about this. But is it worth the price you pay?

It is a sad fact of human nature that if we are surrounded by one worldview, it requires a lot of effort to not succumb to it. As the letter to the Romans says, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould.” (Now there’s a nauseating thought.) But resistance is hard. It is less hard when there are more of you. Enter the internet.

I am weird. I freely admit it. I am odd. I have never been and never will be cool. And I’m fine with that. If that’s the price I have to pay for not having to chop off the bits of me that don’t fit (like some Ugly Stepsister of the soul) then please, put it on my tab.

And so I give you (fanfare please…)

(…thank you)
the Eccentric Ethic & Æsthetic!

Eccentric: The Oxford Dictionaries’ definition includes the phrase “unconventional and slightly strange” for both adjective and noun.
If my picture doesn’t appear in the dictionary under the word ‘eccentric’ by the time I die, I shall have Unconventional and slightly strange graved (hur hur) on my tombstone. The oddity is partly, in my case, the result of being raised in a mixture of cultures, but one can only blame one’s upbringing for so much.

Ethic: One of my main reasons for not following the mainstream is because I follow Christ, and the two diverge widely. So truth is important to me. (Truth is my middle name – really…) Justice is important. Sustainability is important. Compassion, creativity and joy are important. Conformity – not important.

Æsthetic: Clothing sends a message. In my case, that message is “unconventional and slightly strange”. I find it lowers expectations that having the physical characteristics of the majority ethnic group means I have the same culture and value system. My personal appearance signposts my differentness – an early warning system, if you like. And it’s more fun wearing whatever I like anyway. I wish everyone felt freer to wear what best expresses who they are inside. Visual identity is a fascinating thing.

To sum up: this is a place for me to have fun being my eccentric self, and a place where others will hopefully feel encouraged to be their eccentric selves – particularly if they share some of the same eccentricities. As CS Lewis wrote: “Friendship is born at that moment when one man [/woman/small furry creature from Alpha Centauri] says to another: “What! You too? I thought that no one but myself…””